Difference between revisions of "2095: Marsiforming"

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{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
 
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
  
[Cueball is on a stage giving a presentation, with a diagram behind him]
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[Cueball is on a stage giving a presentation, with a diagram behind him. The diagram shows Earth and Mars side-by-side.]
  
 
Cueball: Earth and Mars may look different now, but with some orbiting mirrors and atmospheric adjustments, we could change that.
 
Cueball: Earth and Mars may look different now, but with some orbiting mirrors and atmospheric adjustments, we could change that.

Revision as of 18:03, 7 January 2019

Marsiforming
It has so many advantages--it preserves Martian life, requires fewer interplanetary launches, and makes it much easier to field-test Mars rovers.
Title text: It has so many advantages--it preserves Martian life, requires fewer interplanetary launches, and makes it much easier to field-test Mars rovers.

Explanation

Ambox notice.png This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by a MARS ROVER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.
If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.
Terraforming is the (so far only suggested) process of changing a planet, usually to make it more habitable (for humans). A very common example is Mars, which is known to harbour water ice and believed to have previously been warm enough to have liquid water. Normally, plans for terraforming try to adjust temperatures to be compatible with liquid water, and an atmosphere containing significant amounts of oxygen but little carbon dioxide. In this comic Cueball is suggesting doing the opposite, and terraform Earth to be more like Mars, i.e. extremely dry, cold and with a very thin atmosphere. The word Terra is the latin name for Earth, so Terraforming would be "Earth Forming". The comic title combines Mars with Forming (with a linking "i") to create the new word Marsiforming.

The title text the provides examples of how this could improve things: Preserving martian life (a proposed reason to terraform Mars would be to provide a second planet to preserve Earth life at the cost of destroying any Martian organisms, so by marsiforming Earth, we would provide a second planet to preserve hypothetical Martian life, albeit at the cost of destroying any Earth life), fewer interplanetary launches (no need to leave this planet's atmosphere in order to visit itself, and Martians who might otherwise need to return to their home planet could instead settle on Earth), easier to field-test Mars rovers (field-test means to test in the environment of actual use, which is now readily available on Earth).

Transcript

Ambox notice.png This transcript is incomplete. Please help editing it! Thanks.

[Cueball is on a stage giving a presentation, with a diagram behind him. The diagram shows Earth and Mars side-by-side.]

Cueball: Earth and Mars may look different now, but with some orbiting mirrors and atmospheric adjustments, we could change that.

[Caption below the panel:]

I'm having trouble selling people on my proposal to terraform Earth to resemble Mars.


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Discussion

Honestly, if we find absolute proof that there is no life on Mars, can we make life on Mars? I propose crashing a probe full of extremophile bacteria into polar water ice regions, then burying the probe and opening it underground. Wait for a few years, then check the site. If you have thriving bacteria there then BAM life on Mars.

Of course, we could get in trouble with the Planetary Protection Officer... 162.158.155.128 17:53, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

As it is we are quickly terraforming it to Venus...

Venusuforming -boB (talk) 16:30, 7 January 2019 (UTC)
Meh, at worst we are terraforming Earth to Cretaceous levels, and that means we can all start riding dinosaurs. Mathmannix (talk) 17:26, 7 January 2019 (UTC)
Don't worry, we've been studying how to turn Venus into Earth since 1961 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraforming#History_of_scholarly_study . Once our oceans finish boiling away, we'll know exactly what to do. 108.162.238.161 17:56, 7 January 2019 (UTC)
It seems the most conservative estimates for global warming arr about 2 deg C per 100 years, so our ice should boil before 5,000 years pass. 108.162.238.161 19:24, 7 January 2019 (UTC)

Surely the term should be Martiforming or Areforming? (User:richardelguru)

Earth / Earthling / Terra / Terran / Terraforming ... Mars / Martian / Marsiforming perhaps? Stop Earthiforming all those lovely desolate space rocks! I'm trying to build a new species that thrives off of harsh interstellar environments and you're destroying its ecosystem! 108.162.238.161 17:56, 7 January 2019 (UTC)
Martiforming or aremorphosis if you don't want to mix up your Greek and Latin morphemes. Similarly, mercuriforming/hermemorphosis for Mercury, veneriforming/aphroditimorphosis for Venus, gaiamorphosis for Earth (which sounds way more better than terraforming), joviforming/zeumorphosis for Jupiter, saturniforming/cronomorphosis for Saturn, uraniforming/ouranomorphosis for Uranus, neptuniforming/poseidonomorphosis for Neptune, and plutoniforming/hademorphosis for Pluto, because I'm nostalgic for 2006 when it was a planet.162.158.126.40 17:39, 27 January 2019 (UTC)
A popular version out there, but not seemingly mentioned anywhere on this page (main or Talk) is "Areoforming". Noting the objections given above to mixed-origin morphemes, of course.
Its use in Kim Stanley Robinson's (R/G/B) Mars Trilogy is, in universe, more applied to changing people (and their ideas, lifestyles, etc) to a more Martian state of being. But it has been largely been adopted in 'mainstream' considerations (fictional/fantacist/speculation-only, or so this naturalised Earthling hopes) for the "Marsiforming" of the comic.
I cannot recall if HG Wells had a term in mind for his tripod-piloting invaders spreading the Red Weed, etc, but obviously they were more interested in regaining a 'living planet' than their dying one, so (however inevitable a similar distant-future decline might be, even/especially if they do everything they could to make Earth their new home) the 'areo-'/'marsi-' conversion would be to something not actually like the desert-Mars.
And, for Venus... A choice. "Venera-", from Latin. From Greek "Phosphor(i?)-"/”Hesper(a?)-" (morning star/evening star, when considered different... "Hesperus" is a notable SF staple; and obviously the other associated with the chemical element, plus Lucifer "the light bringer" in that realm of mythology/symbology), although the equivalent goddess is Aphrodite, and because of unfortunate connotations with Veneral and Aphrodisiac (also rooted in the respective names of the love-goddess) a common fall-back for Venerean/Aphrodesian (and "Venusian", which is like saying "Earthian") is "Cytherean", after the island which legend says witnessed the 'birth' of Aphrodite/etc. ...so many options, with their own quirks to them. Before even going into other cultural equivalents (Freyja, alongside Týr, for example) beyond the usual classical rootings. 172.70.91.48 14:22, 16 September 2022 (UTC)

What's the deal with the orbiting mirrors? I'm not sure exactly what that would do. Ianrbibtitlht (talk) 18:01, 7 January 2019 (UTC)

This was proposed for Mars terraforming, to increase the temperature of the planet and melt the CO2 glaciers. On Earth, they would be to reflect light without absorbing it, so that the temperature of the planet drops, I suppose. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraforming_of_Mars#Use_of_orbital_mirrors 108.162.238.161 18:52, 7 January 2019 (UTC)
Ok, thanks. That makes sense. Ianrbibtitlht (talk) 19:14, 7 January 2019 (UTC)
Space mirrors were also proposed for Venus terraforming to alter the day-night cycle to be more similar to ours. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraforming_of_Venus#Space_mirrors 108.162.238.161 19:17, 7 January 2019 (UTC)

To really change Earth to be either like Venus or Mars we need to get rid of the magnetic field that stops the solar wind stripping the atmosphere away. Once that is depleted the oceans will evaporate so that the solar wind can strip that away as well. Whether Earth then freezes or boils would depend on surface rocks and volcanic activity levels. One option to stop the magnetosphere would be to de-orbit the Moon, thus re-amalgamating it with the Earth and getting lots of vulcanism going. RIIW - Ponder it (talk) 20:12, 7 January 2019 (UTC)

That would make the Earth more like Mars, but not at all like Venus. Venus has a rather thick atmosphere. 141.101.98.196 13:48, 8 January 2019 (UTC)
The thick atmosphere of Venus is made up of volcanic emissions - it rains concentrated Sulphuric Acid - and the Moon doing a massive trench around the equator would do much to help better get going, even if the magnetic field didn't collapse.RIIW - Ponder it (talk) 19:44, 8 January 2019 (UTC)

He should try his idea with ISIS. I would expect they would agree with the plan immediately. -- Hkmaly (talk) 00:21, 8 January 2019 (UTC)

The exact word for the "additonal i" in "marsiforming" is epenthetic. --162.158.155.218 01:55, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

It's a shame this strip wasn't accompanied with a "What If" entry about what it would actually take to make Earth resemble Mars. 141.101.104.11 15:56, 12 January 2019 (UTC)

What if the Cueball shown here is a Martian?172.68.50.133